Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Pilot Projects

New Jersey’s first pilot projects for the beneficial use of dredged material to enhance coastal wetland habitat

Beneficial Use of Dredged Material to Enhance Salt Marsh Habitat in New Jersey

The salt marshes of the New Jersey coastline are at severe risk of drowning due to a synergistic combination of subsidence of underlying peat layers and rapidly rising sea levels resulting from global climate change. Along with the degradation of habitat, invaluable ecosystem services and functions are vulnerable to loss. From 2014 to 2017, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and partners initiated three beneficial use of dredged material enhancement projects within three sites: (1) Ring Island in Middle Township (Cape May County), (2) the Cape May Wetlands Wildlife Management Area in Avalon (Cape May County), and (3) the Fortescue Wildlife Management Area in Fortescue (Cumberland County). Beneficial use of dredged material in this context consists of the application of benthic sediments retrieved from the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterways and State maintained navigation channels on stressed marshes to artificially increase the elevation of the marsh platform in accordance to tidal datum-based biobenchmarks. Several methods of sediment application were employed at these sites, including thin layer sediment placement in Fortescue, Ring Island, and Avalon; filling in of expanding pools and pannes in Avalon; the establishment of an elevated nesting habitat for threatened and endangered fauna in Ring Island; and the enhancement of two beaches at Fortescue. As a result of this project, we have synthesized a Monitoring Plan; a Lessons Learned document that includes the final designs, cost, and construction timeline of the project, as well as guidance for similar future efforts; and a Monitoring and Project Assessment Report that details and evaluates the extensive monitoring by NJDEP and its partners.

Reports

Monitoring Plan (2014)
Lessons Learned and Project Summary – Full Report (2021)
Monitoring and Project Assessment – Full Report (2023)
Improving Marsh Restoration EPA Wetland Program Development Grant (CD-96273100) – Full Report (2023)

Data Download

Data collected from monitoring at the Ring Island, Avalon, and Fortescue pilot projects coming soon!

Relevant Publications

Berkowitz, J., C. VanZomeren, C. Piercy. (2017). Marsh restoration using thin layer sediment addition: Initial soil evaluation. Wetland Science & Practice. ResearchGate

Bridges, Todd S., Cynthia J. Banks, and Monica A. Chasten. “Engineering with Nature: Advancing system resilience and sustainable development.” The Military Engineer 108, no. 699 (2016): 52-54. Link

Douglas, W. S., M. M. Yepsen, S. Flanigan. (2021). Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for Marsh, Dune and Beach Enhancement in a Coastal New Jersey Wildlife Refuge. WEDA Journal of Dredging. V19:3. Full Report

Harris, Brian D., Donnie J. Day, Jack A. Cadigan, Navid H. Jafari, Susan E. Bailey, and Zachary J. Tyler. “Establishment of soil strength in a nourished wetland using thin layer placement of dredged sediment.” Plos one 16, no. 5 (2021): e0251420.

Lunemann, M., M. Marano, and W. S. Douglas. (2017). “Resilience of upland confined disposal facilities and beneficial re-use of dredged material for coastal protection.” Proceedings of The Dredging Summit & Expo’17 (2017): 144-157. https://www.westerndredging.org/phocadownload/2017_Vancouver/Proceedings/4a_2.pdf

VanZomeren, C. M., J. F. Berkowitz, C. D. Piercy, J. R. White. (2018). Restoring a degraded marsh using thin layer sediment placement: Short term effects on soil physical and biogeochemical properties. Ecological Engineering. V120:61-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.05.012

VanZomeren, Christine M., Elizabeth O. Murray, and Damarys Acevedo-Mackey. “Marsh assessment and restoration implementation at three salt marshes in response to relative sea level rise: a report from webinars and supplemental findings.” (2019). Technical Note

Funding

This project was supported and funded by:

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program (Grant #43095)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wetland Program Development Grant (CD-96273100)
S. Fish and Wildlife through a Wildlife Restoration Grant (Grant #F17AF00813)